Èffleurer
by deariwasnevergivenaname
Summary: Marlene Mckinnon's POV, Marauders Era, Marlene is returning to Hogwarts for her sixth year, featuring a prank war between the marauders, Lily, Mary MacDonald and Marlene, Jily, Blackinnon, Remry, My first fic, I hope you like it!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter I

"Enjoy the little things in life for one day you'll look back and realize they were the big things." - Kurt Vonnegut

From the outside, the McKinnon House looked completely ordinary, however if you were to enter, you would be greeted by many strange and wonderful things. Moving pictures covered the walls. There were no electric lights, rather candles, which didn't drip. Mirrors talked, chores did themselves and every so often an owl would fly in, drop a roll of parchment paper and fly off. The McKinnon House was a magical house, which meant that two of the three occupants were magical. Marlene McKinnon and her mother were both witches, he father was a muggle, or non magical person.

In the kitchen of the house, Marlene's mother listened to WWN, Wizarding Wireless Network, and used her wand to peel potatoes and boil water for supper. Upstairs Marlene McKinnon danced around her room, listening to Led Zeppelin and enchanting things to fly into her trunk. Technically speaking she wasn't supposed to be doing magic outside of school, but the Ministry of Magic, or magical government had no way of determining whether or not it was her mother's magic so it was alright. Of course it wouldn't be illegal if it weren't for the blasted Marauders, who had used magic to scare some muggles. They had said the muggles were throwing rocks at children much smaller than them, but even so the Ministry has banned underage magic outside of school.

Books, quills, parchment, robes, muggle clothing, and an enchanted walkman soared past her before arranging themselves neatly in her trunk. It was Marley's, as her friends called her, sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

She was looking forward to seeing her best friends Lily Evans and Mary MacDonald. They'd written letters back and forth all summer, Lily had been in France with her parents and younger sister Petunia and her annoying boyfriend Vernon. Lily was really upset that Petunia had convinced her parents to let Vernon come along because she wanted to try and bond with Petunia on the vacation. Things had been rough between them ever since Lily had been accepted into Hogwarts. Mary, who had like five older brothers, had spent most of her summer at home or visiting her family. She had met Marlene twice and they had gone to a muggle movie theater and an amusement park. Mary was fascinated by everything in the muggle world because everyone in her family was magical. Marlene was a halfblood, her mom was a witch and her dad a muggle. Marley had spent the rest of the summer visiting with her old muggle friends who didn't understand why she was voluntarily going to a boarding school, caught up on the latest movies and enjoyed her mother's homemade waffles.

Marley got up and turned off the record. Led Zeppelin was her favorite band, although both Lily and Mary liked the Weird Sisters, a new wizarding band a whole lot more. They would listen to their favorite bands while studying and sometimes in class. Music was especially handy in History of Magic, everyone's least favorite class. Professor Binns droned on and on about long ago goblin wars that might have been mildly interesting if taught by another teacher. Professor Binns was actually a ghost. He had died in the school and decided to stay and teach even after death. Music was an escape for Marlene, both from class and from life itself. Sometimes she felt herself feeling sleepy or a little sad, like she would just want to slip out of life for a while. Music made everything feel better.

Marlene stuck her wand in the back pocket of her jeans, closed her trunk, looked around the room for anything might have forgotten, threw on a coat and then tried to levitate her trunk. She and Lily had been trying to do wandless magic for months, it never worked but she might as well try. They had first gotten into the idea of wandless magic when Professor McGonagall, the Transfiguration teacher, had mentioned it in class. She and Lily thought it would be really cool not to be limited by a wand. They spent rainy days in the school library reading about it. She concentrated on lifting up her trunk and repeated the incantation over and over in her mind, she thought her trunk quivered slightly, but it was probably just her imagination. Sighing, she pulled out her wand and moved her trunk downstairs.

The sky was gray and the air was misty, which of course was like any other day to Marlene, the weather in England was never good, at least it wasn't humid or her blond hair would be twice it's size and crackling with electricity. Once she had accidentally shocked her cat so badly his fur got was before she went to Hogwarts and knew how to control her magic. She got in the backseat of the car. Her dad was in the driver's seat, they sat waiting for her mom, who suddenly burst through the door, and ran through the sudden downpour into the car. She dried herself off with her wand and told Marlene's dad to "floor it, we're going to miss the train." "This is for you," she said smiling at Marlene and handing her an envelope. Marlene opened it up. Inside were a bunch of moving pictures.

"What are these for mom?" she asked. There were pictures of her mom at Hogwarts, some of her when she was younger and some more recent ones of her and her friends at Hogwarts, there were also a few stationary photos of her dad. "I thought you could start a photo album or scrapbook" said her mom, smiling through her frizzy blonde hair, she looked a lot like Marlene, except her eyes were a warm brown instead of blue. "I made one when I was at Hogwarts, it's a lot of fun!" Marlene put all the photos inside the envelope except for one, it was from last year at Hogwarts. She, Lily and Mary grinned at the camera along with "the Marauders" who had jumped in the picture at the last second.

The Marauders were James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. They were the four biggest troublemakers in school. It was mostly James and Sirius. They weren't all bad. They were in Gryffindor along with Marlene, Lily and Mary. James was on the quidditch team, he played chaser and he was really good. Marlene was also a chaser. In the picture he stood with his arm around Lily, grinning from ear to ear. Lily, surprisingly was also smiling. Everyone knew that James liked Lily, he always had. Marlene and Mary were pretty sure that Lily liked James back but she would rather die than admit it to anyone.

Sirius Black was, in Marlene's opinion, the worst. He pulled the worst pranks, and annoyed her to no end, he insisted on calling her Marls. He never wore robes like ever, insisting on wearing a leather jacket and jeans. She put up with him, mostly because she knew that he had some family issues, he wasn't a total jerk and to be frank, he had great hair. In the picture he had one arm around James, and one around Marley. She was attempting to push him off. Of course she didn't think he really liked her, he had gone out with almost every girl in their year.

Then there were the other two "Marauders" or whatever they called themselves. Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. Remus was the calmest of the group, he was a prefect but he still went along with all the others' nonsense. In the photo he stood behind Mary, wrapping her in a hug. They had started going out at the end of last year. Peter was funny. He was about a foot shorter than James, Sirius and Remus who were all six-foot-something-or-other and seemed shocked at his luck of being a marauder. He was a little eccentric but generally good hearted. He stood kind of awkwardly off to the side but was grinning widely.

Of course the Marauders had their secrets, like every friend group. Marlene couldn't help feeling as if they were hiding something more. They had weird nicknames for eachother and were always sneaking around, but she didn't want to waste more time thinking about them. She had more important things to worry about, like what havoc they would wreak on the train. Last year they had started a prank war against Marlene and her friends, and she intended to finish what the Marauders had started. Lily and Marley had come up with all sorts of ideas. One false move and Marlene was going to replace Sirius's shampoo with Nair.

Lily also had two friends a few years below them in Gryffindor and Ravenclaw that wanted to help. The girl from Ravenclaw had cousins in Poland that were, if possible, worse than the Marauders. They drove her up the wall. Once they had apparently turned all of her socks into toads. Another time they had replaced her sunscreen with tanning oil and she had to go to a burn ward in St. Mungos. A majority of the Marauders' pranks were harmless, but once Peter had accidentally gone overboard with some itching powder and one of the Slytherin beaters had to spend three days in the hospital wing. Marlene stepped out of the car and walked into Kings Cross, ready for anything.

Marlene's parents loaded her trunk on a trolley and said goodbye. Marlene casually leaned against the divider between platform 9 ¾ and King's Cross, slipping through after two muggle children stopped ogling at her trunk. As she walked toward the train, she was hit by a blur of red hair.

"Marley! It's so good to see you! Get your trunk loaded up! Black and Potter are plotting something!" Marley let Lily drag her over to the train. They found one empty compartment toward the back of the train. Mary was already waiting for them.

"Hey Marlene!" She said, half waving before Lily shoved them inside.

"Okay Lils, I know you're excited about this whole thing especially since it involves James," said Marlene winking, "But don't go overboard, ok? We have a plan remember? Don't make the first move and try to avoid all out war."

"And don't tell Remus our plans!" said Lily. They looked pointedly at Mary, who held two hands up.

"My lips are sealed!"

The train left the changed into their robes early and traded stories about their summers.

"I swear some of my brothers are half troll!" Mary complained when the food trolley complained they bought some chocolate frogs, bertie botts every flavored beans, licorice wands and pumpkin juice. The rain picked up and it started to thunder. The raindrops thudded against the window and it was almost impossible to see outside. Several people, some in robes, some in muggle clothing hurried past the compartment, a blonde ravenclaw, a tall gryffindor who looked vaguely familiar, two short brunettes whispering furiously, and Marlene was pretty sure they were Slytherins.

Finally Peter Pettigrew showed up. After an awkward pause he finally coughed nervously and said "James, Sirius and Remus are coming, I'm supposed to be a warning I guess."

"Right," said Marlene, sitting down and opening up a chocolate frog, which she promptly dropped as Sirius and James appeared out of nowhere. Sirius promptly picked it up off her lap and popped it in his mouth. James's eyes were (of course) on Lily, who stared right back.

"How are you always one step ahead!? How did you even get in here?!" Lily yelled at him, she seemed to be struggling to keep her legendary temper.

"Magic," said James winking, and walking over to her. Sirius dropped a leather clad arm around Marlene's shoulders which she attempted to shrug off. "Come on Evans, calm down, it was just a bit of fun" he said, laying a hand on Lily's shoulder, she turned bright red.

"Fine," she said, as Sirius tried to take another chocolate frog from Marlene's stash. Marley slapped his hand.

"Ow!" he whined. "Lighten up Marls."

"Hey where's Remus?" interrupted Mary as Lily opened her mouth to begin yelling at James, evidently it was not "fine". James made her yell more than anyone else.

"He didn't want to go along with any of this, he's gone soft, right Padfoot?" James asked Sirius.

"Yep," said Sirius through a mouthful of chocolate. Marley laughed.

Remus picked that moment to show up, glancing around the compartment bemusedly. Marlene pushed Sirius off her. He laughed, shaking his shaggy dark hair out of his eyes and grinned at her. Mary walked over and pulled Remus's arm over her shoulder.

"We're going for a walk," said Mary. Remus shrugged and let himself be dragged away.

"So why are you three even here?" asked Marlene.

"Good question," said James "We should go rescue Moony, come on." The Marauders exited.

"Nice shirt," said Sirius as they left. Marley's Led Zeppelin shirt was on top of her bag. She knew Sirius was a pureblood, what did he know about muggle bands?

"They were probably just trying to get a hold of some of our plans, you know, scope out the competition," Marlene said to Lily.

"Ugh, HE JUST MAKES ME SO ANGRY!" Lily yelled, balling her hands into fists.

"I know how you feel, Sirius drives me up the wall," said Marlene. Lily fumed silently until Mary reappeared, and just in time. They could see Hogwarts off in the distance, through the rain.

 _A/N - I hope you liked it! Please reveiw!_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter II

"You know what? We are home."

Sam Winchester

Marlene's favorite part of the great hall was the ceiling, which was enchanted to show to sky above it. It was late by the time she, Lily and Mary reached the hall. The ceiling showed countless stars, constellations and galaxies splattered across the sky. As soon as the first years had been sorted, Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster, stood and simply said "Dig in!". Food appeared in front of Marlene and she grabbed some lamb chops and mashed potatoes. There wasn't a lot of noise in the great hall as they were all busy eating. Down the table the Marauders were deep in conversation. Marlene caught the eye of Alice Fortescue and Frank Longbottom and waved. They smiled back. After a delicious dessert of trifle, Dumbledore wished them all a goodnight and they began the trek to the common room.

The common room was as cozy as always, bright flames crackled merrily in the fireplace. Upstairs their beds had been made and bed warming pans had been stuck between the sheets. Marlene got into her pajamas, pulled the bed hangings closed around her and fell asleep almost instantly.

The next day classes began bright and early. Marlene was awakened at the crack of dawn by Lily and promptly fell out of bed. Groaning and rubbing her now bruised side she got dressed and made her way downstairs. She and Lily met Mary in the great hall and got their schedules.

"Why do we always have double potions with the Slytherins?" whined Marlene.

"At least it's not until tomorrow," said Mary.

"But today we have History of Magic! Basically all of our classes are either in a stuffy classroom or in one of the dungeons! Why couldn't we have had Care of Magical Creatures? It's perfect Quidditch conditions and we're stuck inside!"

"You could always skip with us," said Sirius coming up behind them with James.

"Skipping? Really?" scoffed Lily.

"Come on Marls, why be stuck inside with that old wind bag going on and on about goblin rebellions when you could be flying? There's the added bonus of being able to chuck balls at my head," Sirius winked. Marlene picked up her bag,

"See you guys in Transfiguration!" she yelled over her shoulder. Lily and Mary would have stopped her if she hadn't already been out the door.

The day was perfect, with only a slight breeze. It wasn't to warm or too cold and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Marlene, James and Sirius ran all the way to the Quidditch Pitch. Marlene dropped her bag on the grass outside and ran through the gate. "Why aren't Remus and Peter here?" she asked.

"Do you really think we'd tell REMUS of all people that we're skipping? He's great, but he can be like a real stick in the mud sometimes," answered Sirius as James unlocked the broom shed using a spell. Sirius sprawled on the grass and lit a cigarette. "What's taking so long?" he asked James.

"For whatever reason alohomora isn't working. Hey Marley, can I borrow a bobby pin?"

"Sorry, I'm not wearing one," she responded.

"Sirius,"

"Fine," Sirius sighed and pulled one out of his hair. A curl sprang out of place, falling over his face. "Dammit," Sirius swore, taking a long drag and letting the smoke curl out of his mouth.

"Your lungs must be full of tar," Marley said, taking a seat next to him.

"Wizard, remember?" said Sirius, blowing a smoke ring. He pulled out his wand, pointed it at his chest "patet pulmonum" he commanded and gulped in air. "See, no tar," Marley grabbed a cigarette and lit it with her wand.

"I wish you would stop with those," said James. Suddenly there was a click. "Yes!" James opened the door and tossed two brooms at Marley and Sirius. They launched themselves in the air.

Two hours later, windswept and exhausted the trio landed.

"Dammit, we're late for Transfiguration," said Sirius. Quickly they locked up, grabbed their stuff and ran for the castle. They barely made it. Lily and Mary gave Marley dirty looks the entire class.

"Come on guys, I didn't even miss anything, it's not like i'll do any worse on my exam!" she said as they walked to lunch!"

"It's more that you skipped with Potter and Black of all people," said Lily.

"I said I was sorry," replied Marley, but she didn't mean it.

They reached the Great Hall, Marley grabbed a grilled cheese sandwich. "Hey at least Remus didn't skip" she said to Mary, "James said that Remus doesn't approve of it," Lily went to take a sip of pumpkin juice, but as she lifted it up it suddenly shot up out of the cup, dousing her face and hair. Marley and Mary tried not to laugh as she turned bright red and yelled

"POTTER!" at the top of her lungs.

"I really wish you would just call me James," James said.

"Walk away James, walk away now," said Marley as Lily drew her wand.

"Mundum," said Marley, pointing her wand at Lily's face. The pumpkin juice vanished.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE HIM!" Lily yelled in the hallway. They had a free period and were walking back to the common room to start their homework. Lily had been yelling about James ever since lunch.

"OK ENOUGH" Mary suddenly yelled. Mary never lost her temper and Marlene and Lily stared at her with wide eyes. "EVERY DAY, HOUR, MINUTE, SECOND! I CAN'T TAKE IT! POTTER THIS, POTTER THAT, WE GET IT HE ANNOYS YOU! PLEASE STOP TAKING IT OUT ON US!"

"What Mary means," said Marlene, cutting off Mary. Lily seemed to be grappling with her emotions. "Is that you're always yelling about James, and we're here for you always. Never forget that, we will always be here, but when you keep yelling and yelling, it gets annoying. He's not trying to annoy you intentionally! He bothers you because he doesn't know any other way to express his feelings,"

"What feelings?" asked Lily, grumpily.

"What feelings?!" Mary laughed. Lily stared at her blankly.

"Um Lily," Marley proceeded with caution, "You are aware that James has liked you for years, right?"

"No duh, but not in that way…" she said.

Marlene and Mary stared.

The color drained out of Lily's face. Her eyes got very wide.

"No," she said in a whisper.

"Lily, James Potter has had a legitimate crush on you since first year. Everyone knows about it" said Marlene

"No. Way. In. Hell." she continued slowly sinking to the floor.

"WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME THIS?! YOU ASSUMED I KNEW?! and i've been so awful to him for all these years, oh my god, nonono… You're positive?"

"No duh," Marlene and Mary said.

"You just assumed I knew. Oh my god, I just assumed he was a jerk. I need some time…" Lily slowly walked away, then broke into a run.

Mary picked up Lily's forgotten bag and looked at Marlene. Marley laughed. Suddenly they dissolved into peals of laughter.

"What are you two laughing about?" asked Frank Longbottom, approaching them with his girlfriend Alice Fortescue.

Frank and Alice had been friends forever. They had started going out in fifth year. They were the same height. Frank was blonde and kind of handsome, kind of chubby. Alice had dark hair, sparkling blue eyes and pink cheeks. They were always smiling.

"Lily just found out that James actually likes her," answered Mary as Marley wiped her eyes. Frank and Alice looked at each other and laughed.

"Awesome," said Sirius, walking over to them.

"What's awesome?" asked Marlene.

"That you guys told Lily about James, she ran past me on my way here. She also slapped me, like what the hell?" Sirius rubbed his sore cheek.

"I can't believe she didn't realize this before, did she really think that James would spend all that time 'bothering' her if he didn't really have feelings for her? She must really have hated him," said Alice, looking thoughtful

"I sense drama," said Sirius.

"Well James has been in love with Lily for years, Lily thinks James hated her for years and now she's just found out that actually he likes her. That's a lot of emotions to go through," said Mary

"Are you suggesting we get involved?" asked Marlene

"No!" said Mary "Of course not,"

"She totally is," said Sirius, smirking.

"We're getting involved," said Marlene.

"I don't know guys, maybe Lily should just figure it out herself…" said Frank as Alice nodded along with him.

"Ok sure, if you guys aren't comfortable with it," said Sirius, winking at Marlene. "And also Marls, can you help me with that essay?"

"Oh sure, we can go down to the library right now," said Marlene, playing along.

"Marley, i thought we were going to do homework in the common room," said Mary.

"I'm sorry Mary, I forgot I promised Sirius I would help him write an essay. Maybe you should go find Lily?" replied Marlene.

"That's a good idea, i'll take her mind off James," said Mary, walking away.

"What about me?" asked James, coming up behind them.

"I'll tell you later Prongs, come on Marls," said Sirius, grabbing Marley's hand and pulling her towards the library.

"What were you and Sirius doing in the library anyway?" asked Mary, suspiciously. Lily, Marlene and Mary sat in their usual spot, a squashy couch in front of the fire in the common room. Lily stared into the depths of the flame,

"I told you, we were writing an essay, I promised Sirius I would help him," insisted Marley, and in a lower voice she asked "Is Lily alright?"

Mary responded in a whisper "I found her crying in an empty classroom and i used a cheering charm on her, she's fine,"

Marlene sincerely doubted that Lily was ok. She and Sirius had been writing their essays, she hadn't lied about that but they had also been discussing Lily and James.

"When James finds out about this he's going to go completely overboard," Sirius had said in a whisper, leaning over the table. Marlene had glanced around to make sure Madam Pince was nowhere near.

"I know, what are we supposed to do?"

"Well I have a plan…"

Sighing she had responded, "Let's hear it,"

"So we get Lily to warm up to James and then get him to ask her to Hogsmeade, but not a date, we'll go with them. So James will be all 'Hey Lily, wanna go to Hogsmeade?' and Lily will be all 'No way, not with you Potter'"

His imitation of Lily was rather high pitched and Marlene had wrinkled her nose.

"And then I'll be all "No Lily it's all good, we're coming too! It's totally not a date or anything! Just a group of friends going out to paint the town red,' and then you'll be all ' Yeah Lils, maybe we can meet up with Remus and Mary or Frank and Alice,'"

Marlene had thought Sirius made the imitation of himself a little too deep voiced, and his imitation of her too nasally.

"Nice," she had said sarcastically.

"Then we'll sneak off and then Lily will realize James isn't all bad,"

Marlene had begrudgingly agreed.

Now she leaned forward and tapped Lily on the shoulder. "Hey Lils, I was planning on going to Hogsmeade in two weeks, want to come?"

"I guess" said Lily. Then "goodnight,"

"I would come," Mary said, stifling a yawn. "But Remus and I have plans,"

"I can imagine," said Marlene. She and Mary walked up the spiral staircase to the girl's dormitory.

As she pulled the hangings shut around her, Marlene thought about their plan.

 _How did I end up plotting against one of my best friends with Sirius Black of all people?_

He was still on her mind when she drifted off.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Fear is stupid, so are regrets."

Marilyn Monroe

The next morning it had turned surprisingly cold and Halloween was fast approaching. Rumors had spread all around the castle. Some people thought Dumbledore had hired The Weird Sisters to play at the halloween feast. Others said there would be pumpkins big enough to fit up to three people inside.

Marlene didn't really believe any of this, especially the rumor about vampires, mostly because the same rumors started flying every year around Halloween. The first Hogsmeade weekend was fast approaching and she was nervous about it. She wasn't entirely sure why. Sirius and her had gone over the plan at least a dozen times. Lily hadn't found out and James was starting to annoy her less and less.

Marlene blamed Sirius. He bothered her so much and everyone was starting to think they were together, which they weren't. _I bet he wishes,_ she thought.

"What are you smirking about," Mary whispered. They were halfway through potions class. Marlene's hair had frizzed and the room was sweltering.

"Nothing," Marlene quickly answered. She had been daydreaming for the past couple minutes and hurriedly added some crushed beetles to her potion. It fizzed and turned a periwinkle color. To her left, Lily's was the perfect shade of royal blue. To her right, Mary's potion was purple.

"Ah excellent Ms. Evans," said Professor Slughorn coming over to their row. "Better than usual," he remarked to Marlene and Mary. Marlene rolled her eyes. Professor Slughorn was obsessed with Lily. His mustache, which in Marlene's opinion made him look a bit like a walrus, positively quivered when Lily raised her hand.

Marlene wasn't a huge fan of potions. Luckily their next class was Charms, her favorite and best class. Lily was also pretty skilled at Charms. The class was shortened today and there wasn't any homework, at least not for Marlene, and surprisingly, Sirius. They both managed to turn their water into wine.

"Cheers," said Sirius, clinking his glass against Marlene's and downing it in one go. Marlene rolled her eyes, then followed suit. She then spat out the wine, which was gross.

"Come on Marley," Mary said, tugging her sleeve. Marlene groaned. Mary wanted to go study by the lake, Marlene wanted to finish her game of exploding snap she had been playing with a friendly third year in the common room.

"Why can't Remus just go with you?" Marlene grumbled.

"He's helping Peter in the library," Mary answered as they tromped down the stairs. When Marlene had first started at Hogwarts, her legs were sore everyday. Now, however, she was used to all the walking.

As they walked along the lake, Marlene had to admit it was beautiful out. The sky was a perfect blue and there was a warm breeze. Some students already sat by the lake's edge, dipping their feet in, the giant squid tickling their toes.

Marlene was half way through quizzing Mary on potions when Sirius and, surprisingly, Lily, showed up.

"What were you two up to?" asked Mary suspiciously.

"I was just telling Lily about, um, how great flying conditions are today! We met on the way out of the castle," Sirius was obviously lying, Marlene would bother him about it later.

 _Ooh, you want to see him later,_ her brain teased.

 _Shut up!_ she told herself.

"We were just studying for potions," Mary was telling Sirius.

"I could help you if you want," said Lily, sitting down.

"God you three are boring," exclaimed Sirius.

"What makes you say that?" asked Marlene, closing the textbook.

"Studying? On a day like this?" said Sirius.

"Accio brooms!" he said, flicking his wand. There was a distant crashing noise and four broomsticks speed toward them. Sirius caught them and laid them on the ground.

"But there are five of us," James said, walking up. "I guess Evans, er, Lily, will just have to ride with me,"

"I am actually not opposed to that, ONLY because I know that James here is actually a good flier," said Lily.

Behind her back James high-fived Sirius.

 _I bet you wish Sirius wanted you to fly with him,_ the back of Marlene's brain teased again.

 _Obviously not, he knows I'm perfectly capable of flying on my own. In fact he's probably a little scared of how good I am!_ Marlene told herself.

Off they flew! Soaring over the grounds, high above Hogwarts and the lake.

"Are we allowed to do this?" Mary shouted above the wind.

"Who cares?!" Marlene yelled back.

"Now you're thinking, Marls!" Sirius said, flying by her. Marlene flew after him in hot pursuit. They spiraled and flipped all across the sky, weaving in and out, just the five of them. Lily clung thought to James, occasionally shutting her eyes and screaming.

"Hey Marls, do you know what a wronski-feint is?" said Sirius soaring by.

"No duh!" Marlene followed him into a sudden dive towards the surface of the lake.

Whooping, she gained on him. The moment before the last moment, she pulled up. Sirius kept going. Hurriedly, Marlene pulled out her wand and performed a cushioning charm, one of her specialties. Sirius hit the cushioning charm and sank into the water. Marlene neatly dropped into the water next to him. The water was shockingly cold and instantly soaked all the way through her robes

"How's it going?' Sirius asked, shaking the water out of his hair like a wet dog.

"Well, I'm sopping wet, freezing cold and in the middle of the lake with you. How do you think it's going?" She said.

"Swell," said Sirius, splashing her.

Marlene pushed him under.

"Are you two okay?" Mary called from the shore.

"Fine," Marlene said as she and Sirius swam over. Sopping wet and exhausted, Marlene dragged herself ashore. Lily helped her up.

"Ah! My ankle, I don't think I can stand on it," said Marlene, holding onto Lily for support.

"We better get you to the hospital wing, you must have sprained it" said Sirius, appearing behind her.

"Yeah. I can feel it swelling," Marlene grimaced. "Woah!" she yelled as Sirius picked her and began walking towards the castle. She could hear Lily giggling behind her back.

"Put me down!"

"How else are you going to get to the castle?" replied Sirius, nonchalantly.

"Ugh, I really don't like you sometimes," said Marlene, brushing a wet strand of hair of her face.

"What about other times," winked Sirius.

Marlene didn't respond.

"You should really lay off the treacle tart," Sirius said as they approached the hospital wing. He set Marlene down and let her lean on him, to keep weight off her ankle.

"You know Lily and Mary could have just brought me here," said Marlene. "But thanks." She dried them both off with a spell.

"Anytime," said Sirius brushing her hair back. Suddenly Marlene's ankle didn't hurt so much.

"You wish," she said. Sirius laughed, he threw back his head and laughed. Marlene laughed too.

"Why're you so smooth?" she murmured. Despite the fact he was wearing his robes, Marlene could smell the leather from his jacket, along with smoke and some sort of spice.

"I dunno, why are you so heavy?"

"Sirius!"

"I'm just kidding,"

However the back of Marlene's brain had taken over now and was determined not to let the moment be ruined. The only sound was the crackling of the torches. Marlene linked her hands around Sirius. Being the smooth person that be was, Sirius leaned down.

"YOU KISSED HIM?!" Lily yelled.

"Shhh!" Marlene said. "But yeah, and I'm not sure how to feel about it or what to do,"

The three of them were in an abandoned classroom. Luckily no one was around to hear Lily's yelling. It had taken Madam Pomfrey, the new, very young, nurse, about five seconds to heal Marlene's ankle.

"Just sit for a minute, then you can go," she had said.

Marlene, who had about a thousand things to tell Mary and Lily, had waited a good thirty seconds, then ran all the way to the common room.

"Well how do you feel about Sirius?" asked Mary.

"He annoys the crap out of me, but he's also nice sometimes. He's SO smooth and pretty good looking if I do say so myself," she said. "But don't EVER tell him I said that!" Marlene said as the three of them laughed.

"So stay with him," said Mary.

"I don't know…" said Marlene.

"Are you kidding me?!" Lily exclaimed. "Stay with him! You two are amazing together!"

"I guess we kinda are, but this is Sirius Black we're talking about. He's never had a real relationship in his life, and he's constantly in trouble,"

"So, like, talk it out with him!" Lily said excitedly.

"You know what, I totally will," said Marlene, getting up.

"Groovy," said Lily.

Marlene found Sirius in the corridor outside the Great Hall.

"Hey," he said as she walked over, the light from the torches reflecting in his eyes.

"Hey yourself," she said.

"So about Hogsmeade-" he began, before Marlene interrupted him.

"Uh Sirius, can we possibly talk about what happened? I mean, we've gone over the Hogsmeade plan like a million times. Or are you avoiding the subject?" She asked, poking him.

"I'm going to be honest with you, which I rarely do," said Sirius. "I do like you Marlene, but I've liked lots of other girls before and it's never ended well. I don't know if you want a relationship or what, but honestly I'm not that good at all of this stuff,"

"Hey at least you're honest," said Marlene, not deterred. "Maybe we should take it slow. I like you a lot Sirius, and I think you like me too. I also think you've been in far too many relationships that have crashed and burned. I think we both need time to think-"

"I think you're smart about stuff like this, but you also talk a lot," said Sirius pulling her into a hug.

Marlene laughed. "So I guess this is your first real relationship,"

"I guess it is," said Sirius, smiling down at her.

As they walked down the corridor together, Marlene asked the thing that had been nagging at the back of her mind, "So what were you and Lily really talking about?"

 _A/N - I hope you liked it! Please, please, please review!_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter IV

 _Trigger warning - child abuse_

"It [is] far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right."

J.K. Rowling

The deserted corridor rang with shouts. Marlene was standing across from Sirius in an empty classroom. Her hair had frizzed out and turquoise, lavender and bronze sparks shot around it and from the tip of her wand. She angrily faced Sirius. Her eyes were red and irritated. She would not cry, not in front of him.

Sirius's cheekbones were tinged pink. Marlene had never seen him actually blush. The pink complemented his perfect skin, clear blue eyes and flawless hair. She shook off that thought.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW?!" she yelled at him. They were in the middle of a blazing row.

"I MEAN I DON'T KNOW! WHAT ELSE WOULD I MEAN BY I DON'T KNOW?! PART OF WHAT I DON'T KNOW IS WHY YOU'RE SO IRRATIONALLY ANGRY RIGHT NOW!" Sirius roared back.

Marlene took a deep breath. "All I'm saying is you either know or you don't Sirius Black. If you don't, well, that's why I'm so irrationally angry right now."

She turned to leave, and was halfway out the door when-

"Marlene, wait," Sirius said.

She turned to face him. Marlene had never seen Sirius like this before. He looked absolutely desperate. His normal air of arrogance and calm was completely gone.

"You either know or you don't," she said.

"Marls I've known since I met you. No one else has ever bothered me as much as you. I don't know how to do this. What if I end up like my-, what if I end up like my parents," he almost whispered the last part, looking down.

Marlene had heard Sirius and his parents fought. She didn't expect this. The great Sirius Black, afraid?

She faced him.

"That will have never happen, you're nothing like them," she said.

"But I am," said Sirius. "More than you know. I don't even speak to my own brother."

He pulled off his shirt and turned around.

"Oh Merlin, Sirius,"

His back was covered in scars.

"I thought you said those were from quidditch and from wrestling the giant squid,"

He cracked a smile.

"I lied. I do that sometimes. My parents have always been old fashioned. When I told them I didn't want to be a Slytherin, or a pure blood snob, they tried to beat it out of me. Of course not anymore. I haven't been home in three years. I go to James's over the holidays. I'm practically his parents' second son,"

Marlene's eyes were filling with tears. "You're nothing like your parents. Who would ever do this to their child?"

There was a long pause, then

"Marlene I do know,"

"So do I. And Sirius?"

"Yeah?"

"That's the first time you've called me Marlene you loser,"

Sirius laughed, throwing his shaggy head back.

"God I like you Marls,"

"I know,"

Lily, Marlene and Mary were sitting around a table in the common room playing exploding snap, when Marlene decided to tell them what had happened, leaving out some of the more personal parts.

"Why can't I have something like that?" sighed Lily.

"But you can," said Marlene, as James walked by. She and Mary laughed.

"And Lily, Sirius told me about an 'interesting' conversation you two had,"

"Yeah I basically gave him some advice about you," said Lily, shrugging Marlene off.

"Oh but that's not all!" Marlene said excitedly. "You'll never guess what happened Mary! Lily asked Sirius about James, and boy did Sirius talk!"

Lily turned a nice shade of pink as Mary and Marley laughed.

"Guys it wasn't like that,"

"Then what was it like?" Teased Mary.

"I offered Sirius advice about Marlene, then he started talking about James. I didn't ask him,"

"But you didn't say no either!" Laughed Mary.

"So what did you find out?" asked Marlene.

"He basically told me everything thing there is to know about James, and once he got going there was no stopping him. You would have thought they were dating," Lily said, laughing.

Suddenly the cards exploded with a _crack!_ singeing Lily's eyebrows. This gave the impression that her flaming red hair was on fire.

"That's a good look for you Lily," said Sirius, resting his chin on Marlene's head. Marlene blushed.

"Very funny Sirius, we were just talking about you," said Lily. "Don't worry, all good things,"

Lily could be positively scary sometimes, and she certainly was being right now, thought Marlene, suppressing a shudder. She could positively feel the emotion humming through Lily. Sirius withdrew his hand from her hair and put it on her shoulder.

"Hey Marls, let's go for a walk, yeah?" He said.

His voice was casual, but Marlene could hear an undertone of urgency, supplemented by his urgent grip on her leather clad shoulder. Yes she was wearing his leather jacket, he had handed it to her, after their last one on one.

"What's the matter?" Asked Marlene as soon as they were in the corridor, her eyes going wide with urgency as she tucked a strand of rebellious hair behind her ear.

"It's James, at the astronomy tower, let's go Marlene," he grabbed her hand and they ran down the hall.

He only called her Marlene when he was being serious.

"You know, that jacket really suits you," he said with some of his old charm, but it didn't quite disguise the worry in his voice.

They stopped at a large tapestry Marlene had never noticed. Sirius kept a hand on her shoulder, and she sensed it was mostly to keep himself upright. He pulled out his wand and started making a complicated motion. Sparks flew as he muttered under his breath, and Marlene noticed something.

She ripped his hand off of her shoulder,

"Sirius Black, have you been drinking?!" Marlene yelled at him.

He pulled her face close to his and put a thin finger to her lips, "that's not important right now McKinnon,"

"Dammit Sirius,"

"It's ok, let's go,"

"It's not ok! You're going to tell me what's going on right now, Black, or I'm not taking another step!" Marlene whisper-shouted.

This seemed to sober Sirius up a bit.

"Marlene, there's no time, we have to go now, just- you- you have to trust me!" Sirius said, dropping one hand from her face to her shoulder.

It wasn't fair that he was so attractive, perfect hair, flawless skin, he looked sort of Italian. His hands were strong and he never broke eye contact. Marlene decided she had had enough and somehow found the strength to ignore the pleading look in his wonderfully blue eyes.

"Sirius how can I 'just trust you'? You show up drunk claiming something is so devastatingly wrong that I have to run all the way to the astronomy tower with you. Why are we even going through this tapestry? Is this some elaborate scheme to get me to put out?" Marlene found herself disgusted with him and with herself.

"Marlene do you really think I'm _that_ shallow?" Sirius said slightly slurred, while raising his perfect brows. "If I want something like that, you'll know. The tapestry's a secret passage, only James and I know about it. It'll take us directly to the astronomy tower,"

"How?"

"Magic, love, obviously."

 _Why did he have to call her love, he was so irritating, but a passage that magically gets you all the way across the school?_

Marlene had to see this.

"Now come on there's no time!" Sirius said.

"Well there's a little time," he said as Marlene pulled him into a kiss.

His hands were in her hair and hers were on his back. It was warm and _right_. The air from his lungs was in hers and the subtle, fiery taste of alcohol was in her mouth. Marlene could feel the pink tinge on her cheeks. There were literal sparks in the air around them. However all good things must come to an end. Surprisingly Sirius was the one who broke it off. She looked up into his eyes and he grinned, untangled himself from her and grabbed her hand.

"To be continued,"

They were running again and within minutes had reached the astronomy tower.

"James!" Sirius yelled, his voice wet with emotion.

James Potter was many things to Marlene, he was loud, funny, always there to cheer her up, he was like a brother, annoying but she loved him. One thing he wasn't, was the sobbing, drunk mess she and Sirius encountered in the astronomy tower.

He was leaning over the edge of the tower, a bottle of firewhiskey in hand, tears streaming down his cheeks.

"I told you it was bad," said Sirius, who by this time was mostly sober.

"Where'd he get the firewhiskey?" Asked Marlene.

"Seriously McKinnon? Do you know who we are?"

"Siriously, you're the worst,"

"It was punintentional McKinnon,"

"James!" Said Sirius, walking towards him.

"Leave me alone, mate!"

"What's the matter Prongs?"

"You know," said James, slurring.

"James?" Marlene asked cautiously.

"Marlene McKinnon, my favorite gal! Maybe you can tell me why your friend Miss Lily Evans is being so horrible, " he said with a slight whine on the word horrible, before breaking down.

"What did Lily do to you James?" Asked Marlene, kneeling down next him. The night was cold, the wind blew through her hair. James's hair blew into his eyes.

"Nothing! Absolutely nothing! She's never done anything! She's never hurt me! She's never been worse to me than I deserve! But she's never loved me! She's never talked to me alone! We've never shared our hopes and dreams! She thinks my love is some kind of joke, Marlene! She thinks I'm doing it just to spite her! She'll never love me! What am I supposed to do!"

"James Potter get a hold of yourself!" Marlene slapped him across the face.

Sirius looked as shocked as James.

"What the hell Marls?" Said Sirius.

"James you and Lily have been friends for years! Get over yourself! It wasn't smart of her to not realize that you weren't kidding and she shouldn't have been so mean, but she didn't realize! You weren't there when she figured it out! You don't understand how bad she felt! You don't know if she's going to return your feelings because she doesn't know yet! There's more than your feelings involved in this relationship and I suggest you figure that out!"

James stopped sobbing.

"It's ok Prongs, don't mind Marlene," said Sirius wrapping a wool blanket around James and pulling him to he his feet.

"Poor James, Marlene can't you see he's fragile?" Said Sirius, holding James close and helping him walk towards the corridor.

"He wouldn't be so fragile if he wasn't emotionally dependent on Lily. I know you two are soulmates, but coddling isn't always the answer Sirius. I'm glad you brought me."

"Well I needed one of Lily's close friends and me and Mary don't have the same emotional connection," Sirius said winking.

"It's Mary and I you loser," said Marlene.

Sirius swore rather badly, Marlene looked around for first years.

"Sirius it's way past curfew! What are we supposed to do!"

"Marlene there is no way we're bringing him in there with Lily right there!"

"Where are we supposed to bring him! I don't suppose you know a secret passageway into the boys dormitory!"

"I don't, but I do know a place we can bring him. Now help me, he's heavy."

Marlene took one of sleeping James's arms and pulled it around her shoulders.

"Where are we going Sirius?"

"You'll see,"

They arrived at an empty stretch of hallway about 15 minutes later, somehow managing to avoid any teachers and Filch. Sirius walked past the wall three times.

"What are you doing?" Marlene hissed, struggling to support a still sleeping, oblivious, James.

Suddenly a door appeared in the wall.

Sirius threw open the door and helped Marlene drag James through it. They arrived in a room similar to the dorms, large windows overlooked the grounds. Two four poster beds lay in the center. Sirius dumped James onto one, took off his shoes, removed his glasses and gently tucked him in.

"He's going to have a killer headache tomorrow," Sirius said slipping an arm around Marlene.

"He's so peaceful," remarked Marlene as James began to drool onto his pillow.

Sirius stifled a yawn and sat down on the other bed, patting the spot next to him.

"Woah there Black, I'm going back to the common room,"

"I never implied anything," said Sirius, his eyes wide and innocent.

Marlene sat down, yawning.

"Why did you let him drink?" She asked.

"You try controlling sad James," said Sirius.

"Well I guess I've seen the lack of control you have over him, and the fact that you coddle him constantly. You guys are so cute together," Marlene smiled tiredly at Sirius.

"Hell yeah we are!" Said Sirius, brushing some hair out of her eyes.

He kissed her, and then layed down yawning.

"Well goodnight, have fun walking back and watch out for Filch,"

"Don't call me that," said Marlene, barley able to keep her eyes open.

Before either of them knew it, they were both asleep. Sirius was stretched out like a cat, his dirty sneakers on the floor next to Marlene's, a hand on his chest, the other between his and Marlene's heads. Marlene was curled up next to him.

He woke up at about two in the morning to a piercing headache and a nasty hangover. He certainly pitied James, who luckily was still asleep. Sirius stretched, pulled off his robes, to sleep in his undershirt and jeans, pulled the blankets over him and Marlene and thought about how wonderfully lucky he was to have found her. Sure his life mostly sucked but he was in a room with the people he loved most; himself, James and Marlene.

Sirius Black knew right then and there that he and Marlene McKinnon were meant to be. No one, not even James, knew that he was a hopeless romantic. He could see it now, him and James happily married to Marlene and Lily. Endless possibilities flashed in front of him. He smiled as Marlene sighed in her sleep and turned over onto him, muttering "Sirius I told you not to use that shampoo, you know Lily messed with it,"

 _A/N: ok i honestly hate this chapter, but im uploading it because i dont want to rewrite it. Plus the next chapter is coming along nicely. PLEASE REVIEW!_


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